Stevie Ray Vaughan got a peacock tattoo on his chest in 1973 at age 19. After a night of heavy drinking, he and some members of the band he was in decided to get tattoos. He describes the tattoo artist as this crusty old guy with a cigarette butt hanging' out of his mouth. Smoke was blown right into his face as his tattoo was completed. Stevie actually selected an arm tattoo, but requested that it be placed on the middle of his chest. Vaughan wanted a tattoo of a grand phoenix bird rising from the ashes, but it ended up looking more like a baby peacock. The old guy proceeded to bestow a great deal of pain on Stevie as he bore down. While most tattoo artists will tattoo a little, then stop and pause to give the customer a little relief, this old guy just kept on tattooing, never letting up. He would say, "Does this hurt?" then he would laugh, as he continued tattooing. The pain was so much that Vaughan swore he would never get another tattoo again.
Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 to August 27, 1990) was an American blues-rock guitarist whose broad appeal made him an influential electric blues guitarist. He began playing guitar at a young age and found contacts in the music business after dropping out of high school. He began to record albums in 1983 with the band Double Trouble and continued to do so until his death in 1990. However, by 1986, drugs and alcoholism has taken a toll on Vaughan in the forms of cocaine and whiskey. Dissolving cocaine in his whiskey every morning was his favorite "pick-me-up". After getting sick on tour in Germany, he entered rehab. In August 1990, Vaughan died in a helicopter crash. In 2003, ''Rolling Stone magazine'' ranked Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and ''Classic Rock Magazine'' ranked him #3 in their list of the 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes in 2007.
